


Rich People

by LiamDraconis



Category: Lord of the Flies, Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Modern AU, One Shot, Short One Shot, With some subtle Rogermon, jalph - Freeform, so not technically a high school au, they are in high school but this takes place outside of that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-24 01:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18159419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiamDraconis/pseuds/LiamDraconis
Summary: Ralph was never too fond of the "Rich" scene. He lived in the lower middle class, just like everyone else in this town. That is, except for the 10% living in mansions that could buy his own house ten times over. But when Ralph's friend Simon gets invited to a party thrown by one of said rich people, drama ensues.





	Rich People

Ralph was already regretting his decision.

With a slight throb in his head, Ralph easily slowed his car into the driveway of the oversized house that belonged to some kid named Jack, obnoxiously popular music already blaring from within. Or, he would’ve pulled into the driveway, provided it wasn’t already filled with various cars of all annoyingly bright colors. A sad rainbow lined the street outside the house he oh so dreaded entering. When his friend Simon told him that he wanted to go to a party, he almost fainted at the idea. Simon. Quiet, pensive Simon wants to go to a loud rabble-rousing rave in the basement of a spoiled brat whose parents are, no doubt, on a business trip to fucking Bangladesh or something.

Ralph scoffed once again as he turned the steering wheel, finally finding a spot to park his father’s grey, run down Honda, which stood out like a bleach stain amongst the horde of tie-dye Bentleys and BMWs. This neighborhood was one of the rich ones, populated by private-school going, picket fence families who clap their jewelry covered hands to turn on the lights. He was surprised he was even allowed to enter through the gate at the entrance of the neighborhood without question. He’d expected a fingerprint scan and a background check if he was going to taint their haven of perfection with his own display of godawful mediocrity.

A yelp sounded from the passenger’s seat as Ralph slammed on the break perhaps a bit too hard, making the car lurch forward with a resounding creak. Simon was obviously taken off guard, having been lost in nervous thought only moments ago.

                “…We’re here.”

Ralph roughly dragged the gear into park and leaned back, deigning to not pull his key out of its ignition just yet. Silence passed by in awkward anticipation, Ralph waiting for the inevitable ‘let’s just leave.’ He knew Simon felt just about as comfortable here as he did. Simon opened his mouth multiple times, each time choosing to not say anything instead. Wonderful.

                ……

                “Simon what are we doing here-”

                “I was invited, okay I can’t just… just not show up!”

                “Oh, you definitely can. I doubt he even remembers he invited you-”   

                Ralph looked over to Simon’s distraught expression and regretted his words. As much as he hated Roger, he knew Simon considered him a friend. A sigh of annoyance left his mouth. _“He’s my friend Ralph,”_ Simon had said to him. God knows why. He’s never done anything good for Simon, he was probably just pretending to be his friend so he could mess with him. Ever since Roger was expelled from his fancy rich school, he’d been transferred to their public school. Typical bully of course, who thinks he’s better than everyone else. He bullied Simon for so long, and now they’re friends, just like that.

_Not likely_.

                Simon hadn’t told him the story yet, for some reason, but he doubted it would change anything. Roger didn’t even deserve to-

                “Ralph.”

Ralph started out of his intense trance of loathing to see Simon looming over the armrest between the two front seats, obviously confused with Ralph.

                “…C’mon… let’s go, okay?”

Ralph released a sigh of relief. Finally. He started sitting up hastily, placing his foot on the brakes. He put his hand back on the gear shift and-

                _Click._

                Ralph blinked. He looked over to Simon in astonishment, who was stepping out of the car door he just opened. Soon after, Ralph felt the car door close, and was left alone to stare out the windshield at his friend, gesturing for him to follow.

                _Oh._

                _“Let’s go to the party,” not “Let’s go home.”_

_Ugh…_

                Ralphs chest deflated further as he sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car. He didn’t even bother locking it as he fell in step behind Simon. He doubted anyone here would even get near that hunk of metal he calls a car.

________

                It was even louder on the inside. The bass pounded into his bones and vibrations surrounded him from every angle. Ping-Pong balls hitting the ground, boys yelling as their beer sloshed in their cups, a muffled splash from the pool in the backyard, all while conversations about god knows what continued without a second glance at him as he stumbles through. Liquid splashes at his feet and he doesn’t have the courage to ask what kind.

                Simon was walking right in front of him, oblivious to it all. At least that’s the air he exuded. His eyes scanned the room looking for one thing and one thing only: the boy who invited him. Despite the throb in his head growing, Ralph couldn’t help but be impressed with how far Simon had come. A year ago, Simon wouldn’t have been able to walk through a crowded grocery store, and now he’s nimbly dodging fluids of all kinds like a pro. As much as he hated to admit it, Ralph knew this was Roger’s doing. He made Simon forget about everything else, for better or for worse.

                _Usually for worse._

                “…Kumar?”

                If human ears could perk up, Simon would be hearing the goddamn trumpets of heaven. Even over the blaring speakers, he somehow innately responded to his last name. Simon’s face broke out into a small grin as he turned towards the source. A boy nearly two heads taller than him made his way over, which was a surprising effort on his part, considering he had to push through multiple people to reach him. His mop of black hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, and Simon looked up at him with fidgeting hands, but stood as tall as he could before him.

                “What are you doing here?”

                His breath was a bit labored, and he had to yell to be heard over the noise. There was a stain on his shirt that, even at his distance, Ralph could easily identify as alcohol.

                “You invited me here?”

                Simon’s small voice was barely carrying over to Ralph, but he was apparently close enough to Roger to be heard.

“Oh, shit yeah! Fuck uh welcome to the first party of spring break! Do you want uh, a drink or something?”

“WHAT?”

“DO. YOU. WANT. A. DRINK?”

Well, obviously, Simon was going to be fine on his own. Their strained conversation easily faded as Ralph slinked away from the two boys, making eye contact with a corner he could hide in for a few hours. Perfect.

Fishing his charger out of his jean pocket, Ralph plugged in his phone to charge and resigned himself to the isolating fate of a designated driver. His headache only got worse as he sat on the red carpet, carefully avoiding any stains his eyes could catch.

___

                Despite his best attempts at staying preoccupied, angry birds and twitter could only keep a person’s attention for so long. It had been about half an hour by the time Ralph decided it was finally time to get up, his knees making a slight cracking noise as he stood.

                He had gotten used to the noise at this point. As used to it as he could be, at least. He had gotten passed the auditory sensory overload and actually allowed himself to be aware of his surroundings.

                In direct contrast to the dark night sky he saw out of the many, _many_ windows peppering the walls, the entire part of the house he was in was bathed in a bright white light. Assaulting his eyes would be an understatement, but just like the noise, Ralph had let himself adjust in the time he’d spent cowering in a corner. The only thing he couldn’t adjust to was the house itself. The front door framed by ceramic potted plants, the stairs bordered by granite railings, a goddamn _crystal chandelier_ the size of Ralph’s bed. Just the foyer was furnished with more wealth than Ralph had ever seen in his life.

But as breathtaking as it was, Ralph was still vehement on his position that the only endearing quality was the boxers that somehow got caught on the chandelier.

Ralph swallowed and crossed his arms, irritated at his dry throat. He really wasn’t in the mood to go wandering around the house in search of a fresh spring to sip out of. So, deigning to just swallow his own saliva instead, Ralph began making his way back to his humble abode. The corner was calling to him. Ralph shimmied past groups of people and mumbled simple apologies he knew they wouldn’t care about.

_Could this night get any more-_

In a flash, Ralphs foot found the floor a bit too early and quickly sent him onto his stomach, the carpeted floor fast approaching. Ralph could barely hear himself groan a string of profanities as his ears began to ring. A dull pain stabbed at his, now presumably injured, forehead, adding to the headache that had already been growing for the past hour. Ralph’s body seemed to give up, barely having enough strength to sit up. It took the adrenaline shock of getting his hand stepped on to shoot him back up into a standing position, albeit slightly wobbly.  He felt his knees start to give out again-

“Shit man how much did you have?!”

Strong hands suddenly enclosed Ralphs arms, holding him back from another make out session with the carpet. His vision was still blurred from the fall, but he threw his head up at the voice. He could only make out a weird mess of red and what _looked_ like a human’s face. Barely.

“Ugh you broke into the liquor cabinet, didn’t you?! Goddammit I have ONE rule, dude! What the fuck?!”

“…Huh?”

He sounded angry. The voice only let out an angry sigh, _proving that he was indeed angry._ Suddenly, Ralph was being pushed backwards, stumbling over his feet but staying upright thanks to the tight grip on his arms. He could vaguely make out the people glancing at him longer than usual when he passed by them.

_Fuck._

His ears were ringing again, and he screwed his eyes shut as a splitting pain exploded in his forehead. Every footfall resulted in a spike of white hot agony. He couldn’t hear the squeak of a door as his feet stepped onto a more solid ground, only recognizing the change when the music started to get slightly muffled.

There were still conversations around him, but nowhere near the extent of before. Hell, he could almost hear himself think again.

“If you’re going to vomit there’s a sink right there.”

He recognized the voice clearer now that the noise was quieted. The grip on his arms slackened and he reluctantly opened one eye, and then the other. The lights were still bright, but the warm colors of the walls and tables were a welcome change from all the white. Looking around served to prove that he was in a kitchen, a sliding door glass door to the backyard immediately standing out to him, the soft glow of lanterns surrounding the pool enticing him to step into the cool night air. That is, until, the voice spoke again.

“So what did you get into, huh? Bourban? Gin?”

Ralph turned his head towards the voice that did, indeed, still belong to a vaguely red figure. He was clearer now, though, and Ralph could see that the redness was mostly caused by a mess of red curls that sat atop the boy’s head, which was a few inches above Ralphs. The ginger ran a hand down his very, _very_ freckled face, and looked up in obvious exasperation.

“It was the vodka wasn’t it?”

“Um, what?”

He sighed again.

“The. Vodka. Y’know, the drink you stole from the-“

The boy finally looked down at Ralph for the first time.

“…cabinet.”

Ralph didn’t know what to say, but his eyes were widened and alert with anxiety. He was just walking when all of a sudden, he trips, gets accused to theft, gets hauled into a kitchen by some random guy, and now is being stared at strangely by said guy.

A third sigh leaves the ginger’s lips.

“You don’t even look drunk.”

“Uh… I’m not?”

The boy in front of him snorts, and sighs one more time before shaking the tension out of his body, his hair bouncing with him.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll check later.”

The boy lets out a noise akin to a horse as he swipes his anger and his bangs away from his eyes, which Ralph could now identify as blue. Ralph remained still at the address. The stranger noticed.

“You were swaying like a goddamn swing, I thought you were about to fall any second. What was that about?”

As every second passed, Ralph became more and more aware of his surroundings. Noise was crisp again, much to his delight and dismay.

“I just uh, have a headache. It’s loud.”

He massaged his temple for emphasis. The boy hummed in acknowledgment, any response cut short by the slide of a glass door. A boy with brown hair down to his shoulders walked in drenched, a towel over his shoulder and two girls in bikini’s right behind him.

“Jesus fuck, you have a towel for a reason! Go- wha- Maurice! you’re getting the floor wet!”

The taller boy’s voice rang out and he tried to wrestle the guy back outside, followed by a quick exchange of harmless insults that obviously marked the two as friends. This theory was further proved when Maurice slipped free and slapped the boy’s ass with the towel, leaving it at his feet as he ran out laughing, the girls swiftly doing the same after exchanging quick goodbyes with the ginger.

Despite himself, Ralph’s heart sank a bit. The guy obviously knew people here, Ralph would be back in the corner on his own soon enough.

Still with a lingering smirk on his freckled face, the boy reached down to snatch the towel and threw it over his shoulder instead.

“Well, don’t fuckin’ pass out again in the middle of the hallway, yeah?”

His bare feet carried him to the open glass door and stepped outside onto the stone patio leading to the pool. The entire patio was lined with a dark wooden fence, taller than an adult and with no gaps. Privacy, he guessed.

_Like they care. There’s probably someone having sex in the closet right now._

Forcing himself to ignore his previous thought, Ralph carried himself outside with the need for fresh air. The boy barely looked behind him when he noticed Ralph following.

The night air was surprisingly pleasant, the temperature only causing a slight shiver in his shoulders. The music was even quieter out here, and Ralph could feel his headache start to settle down as he tuned into the chirps of crickets and other nightly creatures. Even better, there was nearly no one else outside, save for the ginger and a couple of people who looked to be asleep (or passed out) on beach chairs next to the pool. The ginger soon joined the trend, choosing a lounge chair on the other side of the pool and laying down on it, letting out a content sigh.

Ralph shuffled over to the pools edge, testing the waters.

_Warm._

Of course they had a heated pool too, why wouldn’t they.

Ralph let himself give into temptation, and slipped off his socks and tennis shoes, rolling up his jeans as he sat down on the cool stone. He sheepishly stuck his feet into the water, not feeling the gaze of the ginger boy upon his back as he did so. They sat in a surprisingly not-completely-awkward silence for a good few minutes. There was nothing they had to focus on other than the cool night air, the quiet sloshing of water, and the muffled music barely traveling through the now closed patio door.

“…So the party isn’t really up to your standards then, huh?”

“Hm?”

Ralph was caught off guard, but eventually looked over his shoulder.

“Oh. Um yeah, I guess.”

Ralph heard the boy snort and put his head back down, the silence now tinted a more awkward shade. Maybe that’s why Ralph tried his hand at soothing the tension.

“It’s just really…loud. Abrasive, I guess.”

More silence. Ralph sighed.

_I guess that attempt failed._

Soon, however, the boy’s voice was heard again.

“…I have no idea what abrasive means, dude.”

_Oh my god._

“O-oh, uh, wow.”

“Care to explain?”

Great, now he had to be blunt. Normally, he would avoid these situations at all costs, instead choosing the words that concealed poison rather than spit it. Ralph had always had a passion for English: the origins, the grammar, the different meaning of words. Stringing together a sentence with more meanings than originally let on was one of life’s few pleasures.

He can’t imagine this idiot feels the same, considering he didn’t even know a word from his 5th grade vocabulary.

_Rich people._

“It’s… like ‘in your face’ or…”

_To hell with it._

“It means obnoxious and disruptive. Something that interrupts your day and is forced down your throat, violating all rules of polite conduct.”

“Oh?”

The red head sat up and leaned over his crossed lap, his head in his hand.

“And what do you think ‘polite conduct’ is?”

Ralph scoffed, and twisted his body to look at the stranger he still didn’t feel the need to ask the name of. Why remember a name when you can just forget that you ever met them?

“Not this.”

His freckled face was blank, save for a hint of tension across his eyebrows as he stared Ralph down. Despite himself, Ralph sunk into his body while under his intense gaze, much to his own disdain. But still, he held the boy’s gaze. He seemed to be thinking. Ralph was almost surprised he had that ability.

“And why is this party just so _unbearable_ to you then, blondie?”

Ralph sneered involuntarily. What the fuck kind of nickname was that?

“My name is Ralph, asshole.”

“Answer the question blondie.”

Ralph scowled further when a hint of a smirk tugged at the boy’s thin mouth. The sight of him now made Ralph’s blood pressure spike to the height of the fucking Eiffel Tower. He stood.

“You, you’re the problem! People like you, who are raised to be spoiled brats and then throw these parties like it’s some kind of exclusive event! There-“

“Aw, so you’ve never been invited to an ‘exclusive event before?’ That explains it.”

The air quotes regrettably added insult to injury. Ralph was honestly just baffled. How did he end up in this situation? He was supposed to sit in a corner all night, not argue with some pompous asshole.

_Too late now._

“Why would I want to be invited to a self-obsessed house party hosted by a brat whose never even stepped outside his precious little circle of wealth and privilege!”

The boy’s eyes crinkled.

“Ooh, looks like I struck a nerve, huh?”

Ralph almost growled at the sardonic response.

“You people only care about yourselves, and you know it. You don’t even care, you just look down on everyone else, and walk all over-“

The boy stood up fervently, humor now missing from his face. He took wide strides over to Ralph, a reminder of his height. He was taller and stronger than Ralph, no doubt. Ralph involuntarily took a step back and regretted it immediately, but the boy didn’t seem to notice. He just stepped closer until his shadow covered Ralph entirely. His arms crossed.

“Well, I can’t help it that you’re so easy to look down on.”

_Literally,_ Ralph thought with disdain. He gulped and forced himself to stand taller, straightening his spine completely, and hoped it didn’t look unnatural.

“You don’t have anything good to say, so you resort to violence.”

“You’re weaker than an ant, so you resort to name-calling.”

They glared at each other, eyes meeting with intense focus. Its clear the boy enjoyed riling him up, but now was getting annoyed. It wasn’t fun for him anymore.

_Too bad asshole._

“Go ahead and prove how _strong_ you are then. But I doubt Jack will like finding police on his doorstep because one of his guests assaulted me.”

For a second the boy was still, and tore his gaze from Ralph’s, raking it over his body instead. He took a step back from Ralph, making his chest swell with pride.

_I can’t believe that worked._

Ralph was still in an aftermath of success when he saw the ginger start smiling again. Soon laughing, harder and harder. Ralph could do nothing but stand still and look upon this guy’s sudden bout of hysteria. Soon, he caught his breath enough to speak.

                “Man, you’re really dumb, aren’t you?”

                “What-?”

But the boy was already laughing again, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, yet only barely muffling his yells of enjoyment. Ralph was speechless.

                “Oh, I’m sure ‘Jack’ wouldn’t-”

                He paused to laugh again.

                “I’m sure ‘Jack’ wouldn’t mind if I did _anything_ to you. I think he’d be _happy_ with it actually.”

                What in God’s name is going on with this kid?

                “I mean I- ha, I know _I’d_ be happy with it.”

                “Yeah no shit- “

                _Wait._

Ralph stared blankly but clenched his jaw in anticipation. Was he…?

                “Ha! Looks like blondie figured it out!”

                He took a step closer once again, and Ralphs blood went cold.

                “Y’know, I always thought that dumb blondes were a myth, but I guess I was wrong.”

                Ralph was about to retort with something- anything- but Jack beat him to it. He grabbed Ralph’s chin harshly and forced it up, so his eyes met his.

                “Nice to meet you, Ralph. The name’s Jack.”

                Ralphs heart sank.

                _There it was._

                Ralph still stared blankly forward as Jack strode past him to the glass door, knocking his shoulder on the way. Ralph broke out of the trance when he heard the click of the door lock. He looked back to see Jack leaning against the door, waving at him, before striding away, back to the madness of the party.

                _His party._

Ralph let out the breath he’d been holding and forced himself to focus on finding a gate out of the backyard.

                _Lock me outside, sure whatever. The front door is still open._

 Resigning himself to the fact that there wasn’t a gate, Ralph put his socks and shoes back on and propped himself up on a beach chair, jumped to the top of the fence, and pulled himself over, landing on the other side with a thud.

                He knew that both his pride and his arm were going to be bruised tomorrow.

___


End file.
